


you're the sky i fell thorugh

by weasleyspotter



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Some Characters are made up, Some characters are mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 00:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleyspotter/pseuds/weasleyspotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She assumes (wrongly) that Grant's horrible people skills are a part of his personality. And is therefore slightly reluctant to introduce him to her family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the sky i fell thorugh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alessandralee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/gifts).



i.

The wedding was supposed to be a small affair.

Charlotte had point blank insisted on it being a small affair. The small outdoor wedding with the little trinkets stolen off of Pinterest seemed to be all she could talk about. She had insisted on calling Jemma every time she had an idea, which seemed to be every five minutes.

It had been Jemma’s Mother’s idea for Jemma to be the maid of honor. Charlotte and Jemma had never been very close. Charlotte was the pretty and popular one, while Jemma was more interested in science. It wasn’t necessarily that they were distant or estranged for that matter, it was just that they were never very close. In fact, Charlotte was more close to her sorority sisters than she had ever been close to Jemma.

However Jemma’s Mother had insisted that sisters be maids of honor and Charlotte hadn’t complained because their parents were paying for most of the wedding.

It should go down in some sort of record that Jemma has been the worst maid of honor ever.

She hadn’t really meant to, of course. It was like most things with Charlotte, a good chunk of their distance landed on her shoulders. SHIELD kept her away from her family a lot, and in that time the differences between her and Charlotte only seemed to increase. Things on the Bus seemed to be crazy like always, and Charlotte’s problems seemed so trivial compared to possible alien incursions, so she had sort of tuned out half the plans.

So when Charlotte’s small wedding had exploded into a two-week fiasco in Cancun, Jemma knew she had no one to blame but herself.

Although it was far too late to change Charlotte’s mind, once Jemma realized what was going on, it didn’t stop her from trying to fix things. “I considered the idea, but I don’t want grass stains on my dress and Eugene’s parents have a timeshare in this absolutely divine hotel. Trust me, we’re getting a better deal this way,” Charlotte dismissed over the phone.

“But what about the mason jars and Christmas lights?”

“Still possible, just with a beach background instead of the muddy ground, and we’ll have people to do it for us. Isn’t that exciting?” Charlotte didn’t want for Jemma to agree before continuing on. “Anyway, make sure you and your plus one are here next Tuesday. I don’t know why you won’t tell me his name, we all know it’s going to be whats-his-face, your little science geek. Hertz, Finley or something like that?”

“It’s Fitz, and no. It’s not him, it’s my boyfriend. And you’ll meet him next Tuesday.”

“Whatever, see you then. And don’t forget to pack some sun screen.”

ii.

Perhaps it was their varying interests, but when Charlotte announces that she’s getting married before Jemma at the ripe old age of 21, no one is really surprised. Jemma for a fleeting moment feels that horrid feeling of jealous, before she reminds herself of all she’s accomplished, and really she was only 24, she had plenty of time for all of that.

What everyone fails to hide their surprise over is Jemma’s boyfriend.

She can see it in their eyes as they walk into the resort. Grant has his bag thrown over his shoulder and is pulling her bag along with her other hand. They’re thoughts are practically screaming through their eyes. _Who is that with Jemma? The boyfriend?_ She supposes there are more pitiful variations of those thoughts that follow, but she refuses to think about that.

Charlotte appears out of nowhere. Her blonde hair is effortlessly blown out, an easy smile on her face. “Jemma,” she says excitedly, “you’re finally here.”

“I am,” Jemma embraces her, “I’m sorry about the delay.”

“Oh sweetheart, that’s the airlines fault, not yours. I didn’t know that it was storming in Britain.” Her mother joins in from behind them. Her eyes are sparkling with the joy of being in the atmosphere of a wedding again, as if this is where she truly belonged.

The truth had been that a mysterious crop that seemed to be eating people had cropped up in Brazil that the team had been sent to investigate it. And truly Jemma had been totally fine with missing the beginning of the festivities surrounding Charlotte.

“This must be the Boyfriend,” Charlotte asks peering around Jemma at Grant curiously. “He’s hot,” she stage whispers.

“This,” Jemma says breaking away from both of them, “is Grant Ward. He works with me.” She pauses for a moment, looking up at him a bit hesitantly because it’s all so new. “And he’s my—.”

“I’m her boyfriend,” he cuts in. “It’s very nice to meet you both.” He says holding out his hand to her mother first and then her sister. “Thank you so much for letting me come to your wedding,” he directs at Charlotte.

“It’s absolutely no problem,” simpers Charlotte, “any friend of Jemmie’s is a friend of my mine. Even Furt.”

“She means Fitz,” Jemma mumbles under her breath to Grant, who nods in acknowledgment.

“Why don’t I show you both to your room so that you can freshen up?” Jemma’s mom suggests

“Don’t forget, we’ve got cocktails at 6:00 for all the bridesmaids to go over the wedding plans. So don’t be late.” Charlotte trills after them.

iii.

She doesn’t want to bring Grant at first.

Skye doesn’t let her consider anything but.

“You’ve been dating for like fifteen thousand months, it’s not like this is too soon or something. I don’t see what the big deal is.” Skye huffs out as she circles the punching bag with her fists rose up.

“It’s been only six months,” Jemma says defensively. It really wasn’t that absurd that they wanted to take things slow especially since they spend nearly every waking moment together. They can’t screw this up. She doesn’t want to screw this up.

“Six months longer than I—I mean some people thought.” Skye steadily avoids Jemma’s gaze. “Besides you told everyone you were going to bring your boyfriend. How awkward would it be if you showed up alone?”

“I would just tell them that he was busy. And who are these some people?”

“It’s not important,” Skye waves off. “I get that meeting the parents is like a big deal. But it’s not like you’re introducing Fitz to them—.”

“I actually have, and really he did quite well.” Jemma says earnestly. “He only sweated through one shirt.”

“This is Ward we’re talking about,” Skye continues on. “Agent Cool probably won’t even break a sweat over meeting the parents. He’s probably been in worse. You know, like terrorist planting bombs on him, and waterboarding.”

“It’s just, we’ve defined the terms of our relationship. And it’s public; Coulson even had us fill out a SHIELD form. So meeting my parents is a logical step. I just don’t know if,” she pauses.

“If Ward’s going to freak out over the whole thing because of his unsolved childhood issues?” Skye finishes.

“I wouldn’t say it so crassly, but yeah, kinda. Does that make me a horrible girlfriend?”

“Not exactly,” Skye says slowly, measuring her words. “Look you’re trying to protect him, I get that. It’s sweet. But I don’t think it’s fair for you to judge what it’s going to do before you even tell him about the situation. Just talk to him. Tell him about this and give him the option of backing out.”

It’s how they both end up taking a flight after the Brazil debacle. Because Grant tells her that he does want to go with her to her sister’s wedding, and she conveniently leaves out her worries because he’s so earnest and she doesn’t want him thinking that she doesn’t want him here with her.

iv.

They sleep because she’s exhausted from all the travel and Charlotte will murder if she’s not recovered from the jet lag by tomorrow. When she wakes up from the alarm she sets on her phone, Grant is sitting up next to her thumbing through the six-page itinerary.

“Charlotte always did go slightly overboard with her _little events_.” She says _little events_ the way that Charlotte always spoke of her _little experiments_ , with a heavy sense of exasperation and a slight touch of disdain.  

“Your sister really planned everything thoroughly. Do you know there’s a couples trivia tomorrow evening?” He looks up at her from the pages lain out in front of her and she’s taken aback for a moment. Because he almost seems lighter, happier even. And for a moment he takes her breath away.

“As long as she doesn’t expect me to participate in a karaoke event, I’m okay.”

“That’s on Thursday,” he teases her softly.

She groans. “Clearly she’s never heard your rendition of _Roxanne_.”

He stiffens, “You didn’t?”

“I didn’t,” she relaxes, “but Skye hacked your file and found a very interesting video that she had to share with me. I have to admit Agent Ward, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

He mumbles something that sounds like death threats against an agent she doesn’t know. After a moment his face grows more serious. “I’m glad you brought me with you.”

He doesn’t say anything more, and he doesn’t need to. “I’m glad you came,” she replies softly, planting a kiss on the crown of his head before walking off to the bathroom to get ready.

v.

Charlotte and her mother adore Grant.

In some ways she’s surprised how quickly her family takes to him. He’s charming and talkative. He’s so different from the sullen and grumpy Ward that her and Fitz mocks. He talk to Charlotte about flowers and place settings. (“Seriously Jemmie, you better hold on to a man that has rock solid abs and doesn’t think that talking about flowers is ‘gay’.”) He talks sports, politics, and more sports.

Part of her assumes that this is an act. That his training to be an agent is so impeccable that he is able to transform himself easily to fit the different molds of her family. But there are things that he says that ring true. He really does like football, follows the scores almost religiously when he gets a moment. He’s got mild political views, seeing both sides objectively.

He even gets along with her father.

She’d always been close to her more academically inclined father. And his approval meant the world to her. She almost expects her father to hate Grant because everything is going so perfectly. But when her father discovers that number of languages Grant can speak (that Grant is even currently learning two more), they start to converse are various languages.

“He’s a good one, sweetie,” her father says to her one night as they stand alone the beach. He’s got one had slung across her shoulder and the other holds a chilled beer. He kisses the top of her head. “You said he works with you?”

“He’s a field Agent, yes.”

“Kind of like 007, eh?” He bumps her affectionately. He had always had an easier time accepting SHIELD than her mother had, and it only led Jemma to have a more open relationship with her father.

“I suppose so,” she says softly kicking the sand with her toes.

“Is everything alright, darling? He’s treating you alright?”

“Of course,” she rushes out, “Grant,” she sighs wistfully, “he’s wonderful. It’s just, I suppose I assumed that he would have a hard time fitting in with the family.

“Seems like he’s doing alright to me,” her father says, “Your mother would marry him herself if she were a couple years younger, and you weren’t dating him, of course.”

“Daddy,” she whines softly.

“I’m kidding.”

“Grant had a tough childhood,” she admits, “I don’t know a lot about it. He doesn’t like to talk about it. I always assumed that family would be a tough subject. But here he is.”

“When Charlotte told me you were dating someone, I thought it would be someone like Fitz. Your mother thought it was Fitz. Everyone thought that,” he looks off into the distance as the crashing black waves. “Grant was not was I expected. And I was unsure of what to make of him. But he’s a good man, and he cares about you. You don’t have to worry about him,” her father pulls her to him. “As long as you love each other, he’ll be a part of this family.”

Jemma blinks back the tears that rush into her eyes, and hugs her father. “Thank you, Dad.”

vi.

They participate in every silly evening event that Charlotte plans.

They preform pretty well at the Couples Trivia night, snagging third place behind her grandma and grandpa who have been married for sixty years and Charlotte and Eugene (that was rigged, she’s sure of it). Grant doesn’t sing _Roxanne_ during the Karaoke night but he claps along when Charlotte drags her onto the stage to sing _Here Comes the Sun._

Friday night is the Bachelor/Bachelorette parties and they part ways in the evening. She doesn’t make him promise not to even touch a stripper like Charlotte make Eugene, because it’s Grant and she knows him.

The Bachelorette party is embarrassing because it’s excessive. There are strippers everywhere dressed in fireman attire. Charlotte tries to get one of them to give Jemma a lap dance. Jemma squawks when the buff stripper begins to dance in front of her. After the strippers leave they begin a very revealing game of truth or dare, which is just truth because mostly everyone is too drunk to do a dare. The truths are more of a sexual nature and every question that is directed at Jemma has to do with how Grant is in bed.

“How long is he?” One of Charlotte’s sorority sisters who is one of the bridesmaids asks Jemma. Jemma who sputters for a moment shakes her head in response. “Look just nod when I’ve got it right.” She presses her hands together and begins to slowly move them apart. The farther her hands grow apart the more indignant she gets, “Really? Really? You’re joking, right?”

“She’s not going to answer the bloody question, Nadia,” Charlotte dismisses, “just ask another one.”

“Okay then, what’s your favorite position? No wait, I change my mind, what’s his?”

“Oh god,” Jemma groans as he buries her head in her hands.

vii.

On the day of the rehearsal, there is so much staging and practicing that by the end of the day everyone is exhausted and irritated. Naturally it’s the day that her mother chooses to grill her about Grant.

“Grant seems like a very nice man.” Her mother slides up beside her. “How did you two meet?”

Her mother’s voice, just the right amount of innocent and just the right amount of curious, rings inside her head. “He works with me,” she explains hollowly.

Her mother and her never had the best relationship. Just like her father more preferred to pick Jemma’s mind because of their mutual interest in science, Jemma’s mother loved to bond over shopping and gossip with Charlotte.

It wasn’t just simple show of favoritism though because Jemma’s mother had always made it clear that Jemma had disappointed her by not being more like Charlotte. Perhaps if Charlotte had not existed, her mother would have resented her sheer existence. But Charlotte was thankful a wonderful buffer, and her mother mostly placed her hopes and dreams on Charlotte and accepted Jemma with the occasional comment or question.

“Oh,” her mother says simply, “and you two just ended up together?”

Unlike her father’s question, genuine and curious, these questions sound like accusations. “We enjoyed spending time together, we fit, so he asked me out and I said yes. And now we’re together.”

That’s not how it happens. She liked him (loved him even) long before they started to spend time together alone. They gravitated towards each other. He was unlike Fitz or any man she had ever known. He was smooth and confident and had this walls around him that only made him even more vulnerable. For the longest time he doesn’t acknowledge her as anything but a friend. And she accepted that any feelings for him were silly and unrequited.

Until she’s nearly killed by a stray rocket during a fight against Chitauri. When she wakes up in a hospital bed, he’s sitting on the chair next to her. He’s hunched over, which his head resting on his clasped hands. He looks horrible as if he hadn’t slept in days, and when he realizes she’s awake, he kisses her, sour breath and all.

“That’s interesting,” her mother muses.

“Why?” She tries to keep her voice as light as possible.

“Oh it’s nothing darling, it’s just Grant and you, you’re very different.” She knows her mother is trying to be delicate.

“Different how?” It takes all her will power to keep the touch of anger out of her voice.

“Just different. He’s charismatic and you’re,” her mother pauses searching for a word, “sensible.”

“Sensible?!”

“It’s not a bad thing, darling,” her mother giggles slightly over her wine. “Learn to take a compliment. He’s getting marvelously with the family. I’m happy that you finally managed to land a man that we all approve of. Even your father does. I always thought you wouldn’t, but here you are.”

Arguments rush into Jemma’s throat, but she pushes them down. “We’re very happy together, so perhaps the saying really is true.”

“And which saying is that?” Her mother asks ruefully.

“Opposites really do attract.” She says before she walks off.

viii.

 Charlotte’s wedding is over the top, in the end, but beautiful none the less.

It’s a beach side wedding with formal attire (shoes even). There are flowers everywhere. And a minister who shouts the vows over the sound of the waves. The rehearsal dinner follows in the resort’s main hall and it’s packed to the brim with family who have flown in last minute.

Grant, who sticks by her side for the most part, attracts a fair amount of attention from her family. People want to know about him, her, and them. What does he do? Really, he’s a security consultant? Is that dangerous? How’s the job at the lab going? Where did you two meet?

He wraps an arm around Jemma as he answers the questions. Yes, he’s a security consultant. No it’s not, he focuses on the reinforcement of security and the occasional detail job (a boldfaced lie). She interjects that yes the job is going well, better than well in fact.

She ends up telling the story of how they met, because even though she’s a horrible liar, she’s had years of experience coming up with ideas to fake relationships and marriages. “He was updating the security at the lab, and that’s how we met.” She flushes, which she hopes her auntie Betty will assume is a flush at the memory not the fact that Jemma’s lying through her teeth. “It was love at first sight.”

ix.

In the end, Charlotte’s entire wedding is a smashing success. Her family trickles away slowly, losing interest in the waning gossip. And Eugene’s already dragged Charlotte away from the party. And Jemma’s more than ready to go home.

They schedule a helicopter to fly them a few miles away to the Bus. Jemma hates helicopters. But she grits her teeth as she steps inside the tiny death trap. Grant watches her with a knowing smile, but thankfully keeps his mouth shut.

It takes only a few moments of silence before he talks. “Did you enjoy it?”

She doesn’t ask him to clarify what it was. “I did. It was good to see my family again. Thank you for coming.”

He smiles down at her, bumping her shoulder affectionately. “No problem.”

“I didn’t know what you were going to think of it. In the beginning. I mean. I thought you might think I was taking things too fast perhaps. Because we never really defined what we were. I’ve been calling you my boyfriend, but are you my boyfriend? Or do you prefer another term, or no term at all.” The words come spilling out of her.

“Jemma,” he says softly.

“Of course, my family loved you. I thought that they wouldn’t at first. Because you’re so,” she stutters for a moment. “You’ve got the people skills of a,” she gestures wildly, “poop with knives sticking out of it. And I thought—.”

“That I would sit on the sidelines stone-faced.” He completes the thought for her.

“Yes,” she deflates.

“I knew this meant a lot to you,” he said simply. “And I wanted to make a good impression on your parents.”

“Well you did a good job, I think half my family is in love with you.”

“Are you upset about that?” He asks.

“No, not that.” She sighs, “Really, it’s wonderful. I’m happy about that. It’s just, no one ever really expected me to end up with, well, someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“Tall, dark, and handsome. You’re everything that a girl dreams in a man. And I know I said you have the social skills of a poop with knives sticking out of it,” she winces, “but my family thinks worse of me. You were so charismatic and charming that I’m pretty sure my entire family walked out of there thinking I paid you off to come here with me.”

“I’m sorry,” he says bewildered.

“No, it’s stupid.” He looks at her unconvinced. “Really, I mean that. I’m just glad everyone liked you.”

“Okay,” he nods, grabbing her hand in his. He waits a moment, “They’re wrong though.”

“What?”

“About what you said. Your family is wrong.” He’s staring intensely at the wall as he speaks. “My parents didn’t really give a shit about me growing up. Or Danny. It’s why they let David get away with so much shit. They apologized, of course, after the truth came out. They were sorry for leaving us alone, letting everything get so out of hand. It didn’t really mean shit by then. I was old enough to leave, without them caring. And taking Danny away was a bonus. SHIELD gave me a way to earn a living and bury the memories I hated. I took it. And I haven’t felt anything since. Until you.”

She squeezes his hand, holding her breath.

“I’m the lucky one. I don’t deserve you.” He says fiercely at her.

She cracks at watery smile at his intensity. “I don’t know about that,” she brushes at the corner of her eyes. “But thank you.”

He smiles softly, lifting their joined hands to his lips.

“And thanks for being my plus one,” she says light heartedly.

“Anytime.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for alessandralee for the Agents of SHIELD Christmas Fic Exchange with the prompt 'Meeting the Family'. Sorry for taking so long darling, and I hope it was worth the wait, at least somewhat. This fic changed plots so much times it made my head spin. I'm really displeased with the ending because it felt slightly OOC to me, but I'm extremely anxious to get this out so I hope that you forgive me for it.


End file.
